GREEN LIGHT TO THE RED LIGHT

THERE was much excitement when plans were unveiled for Sandy’s Health Studios in the suburbs of Manchester more than a decade ago. The establishment, ideally positioned on the High Street in Northenden, would feature cardiovascular and hydrotherapy suites and — perhaps most impressively — a eucalyptus steam room.

‘I had every intention of taking my sevenyear-old daughter,’ one mum was quoted as saying in the local paper at the time. Imagine her surprise — and shock — when she turned up to get more information about the facilities and the much-publicised ‘family membership’ package and was greeted instead by a sign which said ‘Gentlemen Only’.

Inside, at ‘reception’ were catalogues setting out exactly what kind of ‘pampering services’ were on offer, not from health spa professionals, of course, but from women like blonde ‘Emily’ (34C-24-34), a ‘gorgeous young lady in her mid-20s’ who has ‘a sweet, charming and caring nature that will put the most nervous client at ease’. Pictured standing next to a piano in black lingerie, her ‘skills’ — customers were informed — included ‘kissing, fantasies, mild domination and foot worship’.

Emily also offered a ‘girlfriend experience’ (hence the reference to her ‘caring nature’, presumably).

In all, a roster of 50-plus girls, listed in alphabetical order from ‘Abbie’ to ‘Vogue’ worked in shifts, seven days a week, at Sandy’s Health Studios which was now trading as Sandy’s Superstars; Sandy being Sandra Hankin, a former dental nurse turned madam, who ran the premises next to a hairdressing salon.

The revelation caused consternation. The local vicar said staff at bona fide businesses and shops were being pestered by men wanting massages with ‘all the extras’ and, along with Northenden Civic Society, called for Sandra Hankin to be prosecuted.

In England and Wales, it is not illegal to buy or sell sex, but it is against the law to operate a brothel.

Sandy’s Superstars, just to reiterate, was situated on a busy shopping thoroughfare, not the back alleyways, with ‘house charges of £50 for 30 minutes and £100 for an hour’. Still, police decided to do nothing. Or, to be more precise, they came to an agreement with Mrs Hankin that she could continue as long she never used underage girls or trafficked women, and her activities weren’t used as a front for other crime; she kept her side of the bargain as far as the authorities were concerned.

Her prostitutes had regular NHS health checks. Her bouncers were accredited by the Home Officeapproved Security Industry Authority. Council officials carried out regular checks. Her business even paid tax and was visited by inspectors from tax authority HMRC — in other words, Sandy’s Superstars was really a licensed brothel in all but name.

SO

WHAT was life like at Sandy’s Superstars for the girls? Back in 2010, psychiatrist Dr Adam Osborne — brother of the then Chancellor George Osborne — was famously found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council for secretly prescribing anti-psychotic medication to a woman who was not his patient to stop hallucinations she suffered as a result of her £750-aweek cocaine habit.

She was 21 and worked at Sandy’s Superstars. ‘I was expected to get around 12 to 15 clients a day,’ she said in an interview with the News of the World. ‘The money was great, but the pressure was intense.’

However, this isn’t just a story about Sandy’s Superstars.

The pragmatic policy, pursued by Greater Manchester Police, has been quietly adopted across the country. Indeed, the latest guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council states: ‘Brothel closures and raids create a mistrust of all external agencies . . . it is difficult to rebuild trust and ultimately reduces the amount of intelligence submitted to the police and puts sex workers at greater risk.’

The tactics, tantamount, it could be said, to giving the green light to the red light trade, will fiercely divide opinion between those who believe that our overstretched police have more urgent priorities than closing down so-called ‘well-run brothels’, and those who argue most passionately, including many feminists, that prostitution — either on the street or behind the curtains of Sandy’s Superstars — is intrinsically exploitative and abhorrent and demands a zero-tolerance approach.

Either way, what is undeniable is that the strategy has proved hugely problematic, both morally and legally, especially in Manchester where Sandy’s Superstars is at the centre of controversy once more.

Because last week, 14 years on — long after the furore had died down — Sandra Hankin, 55, finally appeared in the dock at Minshull Crown Court in Manchester with her husband Christopher Hankin, 57, and two accomplices, Adrian Burch, 44, and Alison Sutton, 54.

All Of them pleaded guilty to brothel keeping and were given suspended prison sentences. Some unpalatable facts emerged in court.

Sandy’s Superstars had expanded and turned into a £3.8 million empire with another branch on the other side of the city in Prestwich.

Two companies were set up to manage the enterprise, with one turning over £1,944,000 between 2011 and 2014, and the other £1,804,000 — the proceeds of crime, lest we forget — and the Hankins enjoyed an enviable lifestyle with their daughter on the back of it.

They lived in a beautiful thatched cottage, behind electronic gates, in North Wales, drove expensive vehicles (Jaguars, Range Rovers) and enjoyed frequent holidays.

The extent of official acquiescence extended towards the couple is highlighted by the last set of accounts for the Northenden brothel, which is still called Sandy’s Health Studios (specialising in ‘physical wellbeing activities’) at Companies House, and show a corporation tax liability of £27,259 in 2016 and 2017.

So, in a two-year period alone, £54,518 of ‘dirty money’ — a fraction of the overall tax bill down the years — made from girls like the aforementioned ‘Emily’, went to HMRC; surely, few can be comfortable with that.

last night, the HMRC said it does not comment on individual cases.

But an HMRC manual states: ‘If the activities of a prostitute or any other person deriving income from prostitution are organised in such a way as to constitute a trade or profession, the profits are liable to tax.’

In recent years, a HMRC taskforce has netted thousands of pounds in unpaid taxes in a crackdown on the growing number of online escort agencies — simply a euphemism for brothels in many instances.

But back to the saga of Sandy’s Superstars. There is a further, more farcical twist to report.

The Prestwich ‘branch’, shut down with its counterpart in Northenden in 2016, has now been replaced by another brothel, 50 Shades Massage (‘Manchester’s favourite playroom’) at exactly the same address with the same phone number as before.

The ‘new’ establishment, reached down an alley next to the side of